THE SOMME AND VIMY RIDGEA Nation Born

THE SOMME OFFENSIVE In order to take pressure off

the French at Verdun, the British planned an assault on the German lines in the Somme river valley.

The attack was a disaster from the beginning

The British lost 57,000 men the first day

The one and only regiment from Newfoundland was sent in in the first hours and was completely destroyed

Over 700 men were lost in a unit of 900

CANADIANS AT THE SOMME The Somme Offensive lasted for almost 5 month and in the end

little was accomplished and 1.5 million men were lost This was the bloodiest battle in the war and the largest battle in

human history Canadian soldiers, who had performed well at Ypres and other

battles were called in to assist in the battle Although Canadians fought well, we lost 24,000 men

CANADIANS SENT TO VIMY RIDGE 1917: The British and

French try another massive attack

The Canadians were given the job of taking a small sector called Vimy Ridge

Vimy Ridge was a cliff-like mountain and one of the strongest positions in the German lines

Both the French and the British had failed in their attempts to take it

SIR ARTHUR CURRIE Currie was the

commander of the 1st Canadian Division and planned the attack

Currie witnessed the disaster at the Somme and realized that new ideas were needed in order to break through the trenches

THE BATTLE PLAN Currie issued maps to every

soldier (first commander to do so)

Huge models of the Ridge were built so that the soldiers could practice and learn all the important features of battlefield

Finally, Currie used “The Creeping Barrage”; soldiers would walk at an exact pace and cannon fire would move forward slowly, acting like a rolling sheild

THE RESULT The Canadians took the Ridge in just a few hours This was the greatest victory of any army in the war

so far, accomplished completely by Canadians Currie was Knighted and four Canadians won

medals of Valour

A NATION BORN Vimy Ridge was the first time

all four Canadian divisions fought together as one army

After this, Canadians became the “shock troops” of the British Army and were called in to do the toughest jobs and lead major assaults

Most importantly, Canadians back home were amazed by the victory and a new national pride developed. We were no longer British subjects, we became proud Canadians

Many say that Canada was truly born at Vimy

KEY POINTS Somme was the bloodiest

battle of the war NFLD regiment was destroyed Sir Arthur Currie use new

strategies to win at Vimy (maps, models, creeping barrage)

Canadians felt pride in their country for the first time after Vimy

Canada was born!